Capital 7 2012

Lower Hutt claimed a crucial win today 9 - 3 over Naenae. Some tremendous football was played including a spec-tacular (bit of a pun if you remember the Hutt keeper) assist from the Lower Hutt shot stopper.

Ha,I was the naenae player going mental at other naenae players. 

You were all going mental at each other I thought.

Lower Hutt got a crucial 4 - 0 win over Marist today. The quality of football wasn't spec-tacular but we can blame that on the wind. Was very nice to get a clean sheet today though. 

I think that the write up by elite about the game against us (Varsity) was a very kind.

I thought that Marist were going to be the dickheads of the league but it turns out its us...

Think that I may have played my last game for that team.
I can't deal with the arguing within the team. And they way they play football.

BTW. The ref that we supply is a Level 5 NZ football qualified referee.
He does make some rough and very picky calls but I do not believe that he cheats like some teams have accused him of.
 

All we can go on is history and lets just say he seems to be the common denominator in a lot of angst.

I agree - I think if I'd been on write-up for that game the ref would have received a lot more mention but I think it may have been toned down a bit to avoid controversy by the guy who was doing it.

I don't know if I think he cheats as such but he clearly doesn't have a clue (although I don't think think it was us that called him cheats?). Makes me worry about how easily this "grade five" qualification is given out though.

Neither penalty he awarded that game (elite vs varsity) should have been given (at least one each way balances out I guess!) he told our captain he awarded the one against us because he "heard it strike a hand" - I'd love to know the difference in sound that makes. The one your guys conceded was very soft as well - maybe a small push but certainly no more than he had been allowing all half. 

Nothing against your lot though Stefan. In fact your team seemed a lot more frustrated with your own ref they we were! Although there certainly were moments...

Elite played Olympic tonight at Wakefield Park.  1 Nil and probably deserved lead at half time to the Elite. Thought we played slightly more of the football and had the better chances.

Mostly Olympic second half.  Scored a deserved penalty to make it 1 each and had a couple of chances to win it late.

All up a pretty even game and good to play a hard but fair game on a great surface..

Thanks to the ref from Olmpic who controlled things well thoughout the game.

The Olympic vs Elite game was indeed a cracker. Whilst it's disappointing that our dreams of a 100% season have come to an end it was a great game of football, talking to friends and family who had come to watch afterwards they all said it was one of the most entertaining matches of club football they'd seen in a while. It was hard fought, but there was also a lot of good open football from both sides. The goals (an own goal and a penalty) weren't really fitting given the quality of football on display but both sides created plenty of chances. 

We (Olympic) wrapped up the title against Mirimar last night. It was a tight first half, we managed to score after about ahlf an hour but the last 15 minutes they attacked pretty consistently, which made it quite surprising when they made about 7 changes at half time, this meant they were a bit slow to get their combinations going at the start of the second half and we managed to score 3 goals in 5 minutes on the counter and put the match to bed. It ended 6-0 and we were happy to play some of our best football in a game that decided the title. The game was played in a good spirit and as always it was helpful to have a qualified ref on hand so there was no pressure on any of the subs to control the game. 

Was bloody disappointed to miss this game as a Miramar regular. Our biggest weakness all season has been our squad size, and making sure we get even game time across the lads. The 7 player substitution at half time would have been vehemtly opposed if I'd been around, but I understand why!

Kicked off the cup with a 4-3 comeback against a much better defensive display from Lower Hutt with them leading 2-0 at half time. 2 scrappy goals and a cracking 35 yard free kick & header from open play secured the win. Game was all good until the last 15 when both teams got titchy realising how close things were. Nothing ridiculous though.

Saw the comments from Stefan about the NW ref. He was frustrating but nothing on that bloke from Tawa, his own team spent every game bemoaning his obsession with the whistle.

No mention of the penalty save then Miramar :P

I had no problems with the North Wellington ref he always explained why he made his decision I found and whilst I disagreed with some of them there was nothing THAT outrageous.

The Tawa ref on the other hand, in our first game which was a 2-2 draw their equalising goal (they went 2-0 down) came from when THEIR player handballed it in my penalty area and I screamed "HANDBALL!!" then Tawa started screaming handball and it was given as a handball by my defender, was one of the most ridiculous decisions I've ever seen. Luckily our second game against them had an official ref.

Ha, if you didn't notice we didn't exactly give the penalty to a pro ;)

lil joe is next cab off the rank to take a penalty for us.  his last attempt was probably worse than that one he saved so we'll see if he's learnt anything (hint: put the laces through it joe)

stoked with my first header goal in a few seasons.  my impressive vertical leap vaulted me well clear of the keeper

I swear we haven't had a single penalty all season go our way. Conspiracy.

Cracking final against the Olympic lads on Saturday night, ending in 1-1 after 90 minutes, before some awful peno's from Rangers saw us knocked out 4-1. Olympic get to enjoy the double while Miramar was left pondering...what if?

Last game of the season vs Marist and Lower Hutt recieve their first ever penalty at the death. Lil Joe steps up at the last minute and smashes it top corner* to win the game 4-3.

*Either that or it was a crap penalty through the middle of the goal. Memory is slightly hazy.